When I look at the headlines these days, I confess that I do not always feel so encouraged. I KNOW that there is much good in the world and I do try to focus on that. At the same time, I can’t help but read the line from today’s first reading from Deuteronomy, “Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom… Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,” and I wonder, “Have we really chosen life?”
Lent is a time to do some reassessment. What does “choosing life” mean here and now in our personal lives and in our collective life. Are we making daily choices that align with an option for life? How do we even discern that? Are there sacrifices that we need to make in order that our descendants may live?
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I have really enjoyed reading the gospel from a translation called the First Nations Version (Intervarsity Press, 2021). It has helpful for me because it takes what have become “familiar” words from Jesus and gives them new meaning.
For example, today’s reading from Luke offers this reflection, “If you want to walk the road with me, each day you must also be willing to give up your own life and carry your own crossbeam with me…How will it help you to get everything you want but lose what it means to be who Creator made you to be? Is there anything in this world worth trading for that?”
I think about what crossbeams we are taking up and what and sacrifices we are making these days. I think about how we might be trying to accompany Jesus down the road in the circumstances of our lives. I think about how we are trying to be faithful in the midst of such uncertainty and distraction.
And we’ve all probably made some “trades” along the way that are not worth it. Maybe we’ve put too much emphasis on money or things. Maybe we’ve let some relationships slide. Maybe we’ve grown lax in certain commitments that were once important to us. Maybe certain addictions have gotten the better of us. Maybe our hearts have hardened a little too much.
For today, perhaps we can spend a few minutes in quiet with God. Reflect on who God made you to be and the journey that you are on. How might you return to what is most important during this Lenten season?